The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Straight Arrow released You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and this CD around the same time. Both are audience registrations of 1973 shows. Will the comparison end here?

Design

Unlike You Don’t Have To Say this release of the August 30 Dinner Show in Vegas has a booklet and a neat one! A lot of the pictures are take from scans of the original negatives (Caught in a trap, Deelen/ Van Houten), so the quality is extremely good for a CD-booklet. The liner notes are fun to read, but the first part very hard (dark red text on a black background). The text cloud used for the title is very stylish.

Content

The sound of The First Time is of much better quality than You Don’t Have To Say. It doesn’t belong to those few toppers like Gyrating Asheville, but it’s only one step less. Elvis is clearly audible and seems to have a lot of fun himself. The rarities Trouble, Release Me (hardly serious, but fun) and the beautiful rendition title track alone make this CD worthwhile. Add some great performances (Steamroller, Bridge! How Great Thou Art) and as said, Elvis in a good mood and you’ll have an enjoyable CD from start to finish. Talking about the finish… the last song was taken from another source, since the tape was full. Unfortunately the quality is not as good, but at least the show is still complete.

Conclusion

It’s been quite a long time since I enjoyed an audience recording as much as this one! I certainly do recommend this Straight Arrow release.

Reactions

being a co-producer of this beautiful packed and great sounding release, I must really recommend this cd to you. Not only because of we have to cash in but also because of the dedication and love for money eh, I mean Elvis..

Good point Cisco a book review and a cd review a two different things all together, i also can understand Santa Claus 's reaction .. i'm not trashing down releases like this one from SA or the ones before that, simply because they don't deserve that. And if you r saying you like those releases from SA soundwise etc and you don't agree with someone who doesn't agree with you?, then you r being accused of being the producer of the cd or that me or others who are being happy with these releases did get a free copy of this particular cd... bullsh*t!..unfortunate for me, i just have to buy them like any other Collector.

"Writing a book has nothing to do with rating an audience recording." --- Pointless post as always. Google his name and you will soon find out that he wrote countless valuable reviews for many different sites. All are honest reviews and believe me,he never received free copies for his reviews,unlike some others here.

Weeks ago I wrote in another topic that I enjoyed this site before the "Comments" option was enabled. 90 % of the comments don't upgrade this site but degrade it. No valuable information is given by most of the comments. I always loved to buy a CD, listening to it and file it in my collection .. being proud to have an import most of the 'outsiders' don't have. I collected Elvis stuff for 30 years this way. Things have changed since everybody can post his spiritual diarrhea here. Today these comments really piss me. Elvisnews was my start-page for many years. Meanwhile I switched to sites where people are still happy to be Elvis-Fans. Where people enjoy news about new FTDs and Imports like this one here are being released even 34 years after Elvis' death. So you both please keep on fighting so I can return here for a little laugh from time to time after I read the information I really need on some other high-class sites.

I have nothing to do with releasing any of these cd's if that is what your trying to say i am a fan a collector who happens to like these releases, and i really don't give a rats-ass if you don't like it or not , clear enough for you?

I say it again I'm not Interested in you opinion get a grip!!! you simply cannot stand that some fans agree with me and rightfully so, thanks Ciscoking and Tony C for backing me up.I'm not affected by anything you say "interesting are the certain people who claim to be Elvis fans yet trash everything that is released" don't speak to me again buddy i haven't any interest in what you have to say,stop wasting my time and trying too prove yor childish point, you don't know me at all.

Jesse wrote: "Not interested in your opinion." It proves perfectly that your point of view is inherently biased and one-sided. Why is that? I have a strong guess but without proof i rather not say anything:) However,if i have to choose between the review of a faceless and nameless nobody and the review of a respected guy who co-wrote the great "Inside G.I. Blues" book,i exactly know whose review is more useful and more credible for me.

I agree with Jesse, Ciscoking always gives a good idea of what to expect of these recordings. Some peoples expectations are way too high for such audience recordings. They should stay away if they don't like them, but then again, they would have to look around for something else to complain about.

Not interested in your opinion FLY-TROUBLE! your living in your own little private Idaho over there ,i take more value out of Ciskoking's opinion because he hits the nail right on the head with his opinion,our ears do not decieve us.Great reaction Mr. Ciscoking you know what your talking about.

A Private Audience With The King is an average sounding AR. If you are a fan of such recordings it is fine and you will listen to it more then once cause the show is o.k. with interesting setlist. If you compare with the CDR floating around (Winter Season In Vegas Vol. 9) you can hear that the SA sounds better by miles. Nothing wrong with it and there are piles of worse sounding AR`s.. AND we are talking about audience recorded shows and NOT SB`s Gents..! Granted it doesn`t have the sound quality of The Final Farewell or Royal Gambit In Richfield..but these are outstanding and not common...so please calm a bit down..

Here's a review of that so called good sounding 'A Private Audience With The King': --- "I received "A Private Audience" several days ago but it was earlier today I finally gave the two discs a spin. My first reaction was, "Man, that's a pretty poor sounding audience recording." Unfortunately, as I got to the last minute of it my initial opinion did not change. As much as I like the design and artwork (good job, Patrick) the sound quality is quite a disappointment and way below of what could be expected of Straight Arrow." --- And no,it wasn't me who wrote it. It was written by hm80ep, a respected guy who wrote honest reviews for many sites and co-wrote famous books like "Inside G.I. Blues" & others. I can 100% trust in his unbiased reviews. If you think that honest reviews like this "are not even worth reading" than you're living in fantasyland. An intelligent person reads both positive and negative reviews then he decides himself which are the more accurate.

Well said Tony C and ciscoking , you both r so right, and they are always the same people who do these allegations against the good labels ,SA always delivers what is promised "A Private audience" and " You Don't Have" are not bad sounding releases in any way,hell i can now this..i have those releases.I read so many positive reactions on those releases, so that the negative reactions about this releases from SA for instance or other good labels are not even worth reading, it's a complete waste of time.

There are a few lables which deliver great work..and you can easily make out the efforts behind when you have the CDR versions which are floating around....you just have to compare..then there are labels which just copy the CDR without any efforts..just copy and paste for a quick buck..easy..it`s always the same..good lables Rainbow, SA, Gravelroad, Madison Venus Productions, Audionics, Audiophile etc...second rate labels...MxF, SR, Wonderland, Millbranch..and whatever..it`s easy...

More interesting are the certain people who claim to be Elvis fans yet trash everything that is released, official or unofficial. Just because people like something does not mean they are they people behind it, we have heard all of these absurd allegations before.

Well,i don't know about it as i still don't have it,but their latest 2 releases (A Private Audience With The King & You Don't Have To Say You Love Me) were REALLY BAD SOUNDING audience recordings. Something that 'Ciscoking' and 'You Dont Know Me' are trying to hide for whatever reason:) Promoting a label's releases is one thing,lying to the fans is another. In an ideal world,there would be a golden mean i guess. I feel sorry for those naive fans,who (reading false reviews) buy CD's/DVD's/books they would never buy in normal case. And then they will never listen to them/watch them/read them again. We are all fans of the same fantastic performer and i don't understand why some of us have to mislead other fellow fans? Are a few free copies or friendship with the producer really worth that much? My only advice to newbies is that when you see always the same 2 or 3 persons to post rave reviews about the same label's releases,then be careful and listen to others' opinion before you open your pocketbook. Of course not all positive reviews are false and biased,but sometimes it's better to be careful and to wait a little to read more reviews from more persons. And one more thing: I'm talking in general and not about this release or label.

I really don't like the "audience recorded" tapes. I suppose we have been spoiled by the soundboard recordings because I used to collect cassette tapes of audience recordings in the 80's. Is the quality good or just another echoey forgetful CD transfer?

I hate it when performances from other shows are tagged on to make it sound like a complete show, I would rather hear just what was captured on the original tape. If it cut out before the end of the show or even during a song, I would rather hear a quick fade. Two different audience recordings will never sound the same, so much depends on which part of the hall it was recorded in, the volume of the band, etc. I wouldn't let that put me off of this release, which looks to be a good one.